Rays pitching prospect Heath Rollins was one of the surprise performers during Spring Training. He was one of the final cuts and was considered a contender for the final bullpen spot that eventually went to Mike Ekstrom. In hindsight, maybe that was a good thing for Rollins,Cheap Kevin Kolb Jersey. Because if he was in the big leagues,Cheap New England Patriots Jerseys 365djerseys.com B0, his Facebook page might soon become a very big story. We have no idea what prompted , but his choice of words was questionable at best…,ray lewis jersey 365djerseys.com I3; “Heath Rollins is a ****” Of course, this could be high schoolish prank being played by a roommate or friend,wholesale anquan boldin jersey. If that is the case, this accentuates the dangers of athletes keeping Facebook pages or Twitter accounts. It is still Rollins’ page and it is his responsibility. If this was Rollins own doing, we will probably never hear an apology from Rollins. The Rays,Wholesale Ben Tate Jersey, in their typical fashion, will likely talk to Rollins privately, while publicly, they will pretend like it never happened. Rollins, the Rays 11th round pick in 2006, has made 3 appearances for Durham this year, allowing 7 runs (4 earned) in 6 innings.

When I first learned that three members of the Rays singleA affiliate Bowling Green Hot Rods had been suspended for 50 games, my first question was “who?” The most prominent name was second baseman Ryan Brett, who is hitting .285 with a .348 OBP, 6 home runs and 48 stolen bases, which ranks third in the Midwest League. The other two players, Charlie Cononie and Justin Woodall are just middling relievers. Then I wanted to know “what,miami heat jerseys?” Was it HGH? Was it testosterone? Was it weed? Nope it was methamphetamine…Oh…,Arizona Cardinals Jerseys 365djerseys.com U6;Wait…,superbowl 49ers jerseys;What? Meth?!? From Major League Baseball… The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that three Minor League players in the Tampa Bay Rays organization have been suspended following their violations of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.? Second baseman Ryan Brett,Indianapolis Colts Jerseys, pitcher Charles Cononie and pitcher Justin Woodall, all of whom are with SingleA Bowling Green of the Midwest League,los angeles clippers jerseys 365djerseys.com Y7, each tested positive for methamphetamine and an amphetamine. All three players have received 50game suspensions without pay, effective immediately. And may god have mercy on your souls…

The GBT – The Good,larry fitzgerald jersey, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. RAYS 3, Blue Jays 0 () THE GOOD: JP Howell. With a runner on third in the 7th inning and the Rays nursing a 10 lead, Colby Rasmus hit a little nubber between first and second that was going too slow for Jeff Keppinger to make a play. But never fear, Dude was there. Howell chased it down, grabbed it moving towards right field, and then as he was falling down, delivered a strike to Pena to end the inning and save the lead. …Jeremy Hellickson. Hellboy gave up 5 hits and 2 walks in less than 6 innings,panthers nike jerseys, but he actually pitched better than that. Only once in the first 5 innings did the Jays advance a runner to scoring position with less than 2 outs…BJ Upton. BJ’s time with the Rays is nearing an end and the bat of 2007 BJ has finally returned. He now has a careerhigh 26 home runs. And in his last 41 games, he is hitting .269 with 16 home runs. Over a full season, that is about 63 home runs! 63! THE BAD: Chasing the A’s. On the plusside, the A’s have a tough schedule. Seven of their last 10 games are against the Rangers. But there is a chance that the final 3 games won’t mean anything and the Rangers will want to rest their starters,Colts Jerseys 365djerseys.com R6. But more importantly, things would look better for the Rays if they were still chasing the Orioles because of the final series of the year, 3 headtohead games. Headtohead games are worth 2 in the magic number category and makes it a lot easier to play catch up,cheap cutler jersey 365djerseys.com I2. THE TELLING: Stephen Vogt got his first career start at catcher and went 02. He is now 021 to start his career…The Rays set the A.L. record for strikeouts (by pitchers) in a season…Rays will wear wigs ….Of the Rays’,cheap patriots nike jerseys; 6 series against the Red Sox this season, only 2 were of the 3game variety. There were also two 4game series, and two 2game series…The Rays are 8370, 3.5 games (4 in the loss column) behind the A’s and 1 game behind the Angels. According to CoolStandings.com the Rays now have a 9.3% chance of making the playoffs. After 153 games in 2011, the Rays had an 8.5% shot. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Evan Longoria. Longo’s 2run home run in the 6th was a nice moment in an otherwise ugly night. But there was something else we hadn’t seen in a while: that classic Dirtbag swing. We went back and watched his warning track flyball during the 16inning game against the Red Sox. Last night’s home run clearly has more bat speed. When Longoria has his bat speed, the bat smacks the ground behind him on the followthrough. That was not there against the Sox. It was there last night. THE BAD: Missed Opportunity. The Rays scored an early run with backtoback doubles to start the game. And then threatened to score a bunch more when backtoback walks loaded the bases with no outs. But Matt Joyce struck out when just about any contact would have scored a run. And the Ben Zobrist was thrown out at home on BJ Upton’s flyball, ending the inning with no additional runs…Sam Fuld. One ay after telling you that Fuld was among the best defensive left fielders in baseball,SuperBowl NaVorro Bowman Jersey 365djerseys.com T5, and that he had saved the Rays 8 runs this season, Fuld misplayed not one, but TWO flyballs. The first he misjudged a ball that went over his head,saints jerseys, eventually leading to 2 runs. The second was a routine flyball he never saw. That runner eventually scored,cheap haloti ngata jersey. On top of that, Fuld injured the Royals shortstop with a dirty spikesup slide (). The Royals later retaliated with ball in Fuld’s back…Wade Davis,SuperBowl Patrick Willis Jersey 365djerseys.com V9. There was a lot of chatter about an improved Big Dub returning from the DL. Unfortunately, that was about all he had last night, throwing it 14 times for 11 strikes (2 swinging). THE TELLING: The Rays are 6.5 games behind the Yankees, and according to CoolStandings.com,Cheap Smith Jersey, the Rays now have a 5.8% shot at making the playoffs. The Detroit Tigers, who are only onehalf game better than the Rays, with an easier schedule, have a 50.4% shot. THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA… DOWN ON THE FARM…

The 2008 25man roster prediction is based only on players currently within the organization and will be updated when trades are consummated and free agents are signed. We are now less than a week away from Spring Training and after a couple of more free agent signings,Cheap Green Bay Packers Jerseys, we now have a much better idea of what the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays roster will look like. [Ed. note: on the official website was updated today and lists Evan Longoria as the starting third baseman. This is likely one person's "best guess" as the team has yet to make an official announcement,Cheap Oakland Raiders Jerseys 365djerseys.com J1. However,cheap nfl jerseys 365djerseys.com V5, it could be precluding a Monday announcement. We will have to wait and see,cheap Ryan Jersey. Everything else on the depth chart jives with what we have here, except they list Shawn Riggans as the backup catcher.] Notes on the projection can be found after the roster…,bills jerseys; A FEW NOTES ON THE 25MAN ROSTER…;

For all the talent, the nohitter and helping the Rays to two division titles in three years, one thing is certain about Matt Garza: he is a headcase. And if his first spring training with the Cubs is any indication, not much has changed. Garza has given up 15 runs in 13.2 innings (9.88 ERA) with more walks (10) than strikeouts (9),Tennessee Titans look at changes to help Jake Locker The Tennessean tennessean.com,chargers jerseys. And in his latest outing,cheap redskins jerseys, Garza found yet another excuse for his failings. This time it was the mound. , Garza blamed his latest poor outing (6 baserunners and 3 runs in 3 innings) on “the slant of the [Mariners' spring training field] mound.” Garza was unable to “find a good landing spot,” and ended up with a hamstring that tightened up on him. Now keep in mind,Washington Redskins Jerseys 365djerseys.com U6,Tate Jersey, this is the second?time he has pitched on this field this spring. And presumably, he threw some warmup pitches from the mound prior to the first inning. If there was indeed a problem with the mound, we’re sure the Mariners would have been happy to fix it for him. And certainly the Cubs would have been willing to pull him from the scheduled start, rather than risk an injury. Garza added that he had to “alter [his landing spot] so many times it was hard to get back to normal.” Not exactly the sort of thing a pitcher should be working on during a spring start. Hey, we’ll miss the occasional gem. But we’re not going to miss the mental breakdowns.

. Kevin Lynn got the start in place of JK Ryu who went on the DL. Lynn gave up 5 runs in 5 innings…Reid Brignac was 24 with his 8th double. He also committed his 4th error…Fernando Perez was 04 with 3 strike outs, and Justin Ruggiano was 13 with a triple and a walk…Dan Johnson was 24 with 3 RBI including a 2run single in the 9th when the game was already decided. . (Just curious…are we contractually obligated at this point to point out that the Biscuits “missed an extra point”? Just wondering, because in the world of overused sports cliches,cheap cardinals nike jerseys, the “highscoring baseball game, as a football score” is right there near the top. Just behind “,cheap houston rockets jerseys 365djerseys.com X7,Chris Wells Jersey;crafty lefty” and just ahead of anything Joe Magrane says)…James Houser’s suspension for hitting Matt LaPorta was only for 3 games, so he did not miss a start. He should have as he could not manage to pick up the W despite receiving a touchdown and three field goals worth of run support (see what we did there; much better on the hypothetical kicker’s ego). Houser needed only make it through the 5th inning, but he could not and was knocked out with 1 out in the 5th after allowing 6 runs on 10 hits…3 different players had 3 RBI apiece, including Erold Andrus, Gabby Martinez and Rashad Eldridge… John Jaso had 3 hits, including 2nd double and an RBI…Erold Andrus added his 12th double and Sergio Pedroza knocked his 10th double. . Heath Rollins struck out 7 and walked none, but fell to 12 after allowing 4 runs in 5 innings on 9 hits…Ben Zobrist DH’d and went 13 with an RBI in his first rehab start. . Glenn Gibson struck out 6 in 5 innings,cheap patriots jerseys 365djerseys.com G0,detroit pistons jerseys, but walked 3 and gave up 3 runs on 4 hits…Maiko Loyola was 34 to raise his average to .287 and stole his 14th base. NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

The GBT – The Good,Cheap Aaron Curry Jersey 365djerseys.com X4, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Clutch Hitting. Fernando Perez drove in the winning run with a single in the 10th. It was the Rays 3rd walkoff win and 4th win in their final at bat. Joe Maddon said he wanted better at bats late in games. Of course if any of the guys that are coming through in the clutch now are on the roster in April, the Rays are screwed…Matt Garza,49ers jerseys 365djerseys.com O9. Garza worked 3 strong innings, striking out 5 and walking none…Alex Torres. Torres made his second appearance a good one pitching 2 scoreless innings of relief,wholesale 2013 SuperBowl Jerseys, striking out 1 and walking 1…Speed. As in the Rays were just showin’ off yesterday when they started an outfield that included Carl Crawford, BJ Upton and Desmond Jennings. THE BAD: Pat Burrell. The Bat has a big hole in it so far. Another 02 and he is now 110 on the spring. So much for coming to spring training in better shape and more determined,wholesale brian cushing jersey. It hasn’t translated to the field yet… THE TELLING: Carlos Pena was given the day off with Chris Richard getting the start at first base…Rafael Soriano will make his first appearance next week,wholesale tom brady jersey. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

We have made a big deal around these parts recently about the great play of Desmond Jennings. He has come a long ways from when we were ,cheap steelers nike jerseys. Jennings has been so good in his first 35 games that we are beginning to wonder if he is doing enough to make a case for Rookie of the Year, in a season where there is no clearcut favorite. Of course, the biggest factor working against Jennings is his late callup. If Jennings plays in all of the Rays remaining 29 games, he will have played in just 64 games this season. There is precedent for a player winning Rookie of the Year with limited playing time. In 2004, Ryan Howard won the award having played in just 88 games. But to find a position player that played in less than half of his team’s game, we have to go all the back to Willie McCovey in 1959, who played in just 52 games on the way to top rookie honors. In the cases of Howard (22 home run), and McCovey (.354 avg,Cheap Kevin Kolb Jersey 365djerseys.com Y3, 13 HR) they dominated in limited action. The same can be said for Jennings. Let’s take a look at how Jennings’ numbers compare to some other Rookie of the Year candidates*… If we look at Wins Above Replacement (WAR), we see that in just 153 plate appearances, Jennings has already been worth 2,cheap lions jerseys 365djerseys.com Y2.3 Wins to the Rays, which is tops among the rookie position players. This tells us that Jennings numbers are so much better than the other hitters, that it makes up for his limited playing time. The only player that might have a better overall resume is,kerrigan jersey?Michael Pineda of the Mariners. Both Ivan Nova and Jeremy Hellickson have FIPs above 4.00 which suggests that their ERA’s might be lower than they should be. That is especially true for Hellickson who has an FIP more than a run higher than his ERA. On the other hand, Pineda has a strong 3.41 FIP and has been worth 2.9 Wins. Right now, you can make a strong case that Pineda and Jennings have been the two best rookies in the American League. And with a month to go, Jennings has plenty of time to prove he is the better candidate. But will anybody notice? * Data via Fangraphs.com,Cheap Houston Texans Jerseys; Through Sunday’s games.

Time to bring back the GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe. THE GOOD: Lance Cormier. Cormier (right) is making a strong case to be the last man in the bullpen ahead of Joe Nelson. Joe Maddon has gone to Cormier a lot early in game to face the tougher batters and he has come through with solid spring numbers (1,wholesale patrick peterson jersey 365djerseys.com K4.80 ERA). He pitched two more scoreless innings and his ability to work more than one inning is only going to help his case. THE BAD: The offense,Cheap Minnesota Vikings Jerseys. Rays hitters managed only 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks. Only one of the hits went for extra bases, a double by Gabe Gross…Jason Hammel. The fifth spot in the rotation is Hammer’,miami heat jerseys 365djerseys.com U8;s but his grasp may be slipping after walking 5 in 4 innings and giving up 4 runs and 6 hits,ed reed jersey. THE TELLING: Adam Kennedy made his spring debut at shortstop, while Reid Brignac made the start,2013 Super Bowl Jerseys. DEVIL DOGS WEBTOPIA…

We are now less than 24 hours away from what will be the biggest day of the 2007 baseball season for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. From most accounts the Rays are faced with the exact same scenario that the Minnesota Twins had to endure in 2001 when they had to choose between Joe Mauer and Mark Prior. In that draft, the Twins went with the can’tmiss catcher who didn’t miss over the “can’t miss” pitcher that has so far not even been close to the target. All indications are that the Rays will take David Price and we have to admit that a 2009 rotation of KazmirShieldsPrice makes us downright giddy. Still, the new Devil Rays front office subscribes to two philosophies that fully agree with. First is the idea of taking the best player available, regardless of position. The second philosophy is an old adage in baseball of being strong up the middle, and that starts with the catching position. We still think the Rays will take Price, but it would not surprise us if the Rays selected Matt Wieters. The Rays pitching depth in the minor leagues is suddenly a strength of the organization and Dioner Navarro has yet to show signs of becoming the allstar many projected when he was the Yankees top prospect. Of course,Cheap Frank Gore Jersey, Wieters might be an easier selection to make if he weren’t represented by . DEVIL RAYS DRAFTOPIA… It’s only a matter of time before they start competing for pennants…I think they’re going to have a great team. With leaders like Scott Kazmir and Carl Crawford leading a group of young, great players. It’s gonna make it a lot easier and fun to play. With manager Joe Maddon, one of the great managers in baseball, they’re obviously a great talented team. The consensus among most scouting directors is that Price stands above everyone else in his draft class. As one put it, “There’s David Price, but after that there aren’t a lot of topofthedraft guys.” I’d say that he’s rated just slightly higher than Andrew Miller was as the top prospect last year. Price also is advised by Bo McKinnis, so there shouldn’t be much risk of protracted negotiations. He’ll probably get the standard contract given to the best college pitchers each year, a big league deal worth from $5 million to $6 million, and MLB may have the Rays wait to announce it because it doesn’t want that deal to affect others. Price also would be a good fit for Tampa Bay. The Rays’ biggest weakness in the majors is pitching, even though they have some impressive arms coming up through the minor [Jim Callis] The deal breaker comes in your evaluation of Price, for me. If he’s a true No. 1 pitcher, and some scouts think he is,Cheap New York Jets Jerseys, I don’t see how you can walk away from him, regardless of your evaluation of Wieters. I don’t think R.J. Harrison, the Devil Rays scouting director, has any doubts about Wieters’,packers jerseys 365djerseys.com B5; ability to catch and throw,wholesale anquan boldin jersey,Sources Defensive staff must interview for jobs - Dallas Cowboys Blog - ESPN Dallas. Let’s not forget, Harrison himself was a tall, lanky catcher in his days in college at Arizona State who was drafted by the Cardinals. But based on the way Price has pitched, my hunch is the Rays’ like him as a future No. 1 pitcher, recognize the lack of starting pitching in Tampa Bay at present, and make Price their choice. [Alan Matthews] I think Price should be, though I do think a case could be made for Matt Wieters. If “signability” weren’t a factor, I’d really want to know, if I were running a club, if my scouts thought Wieters could catch and throw at the big league level. It sounds like he can, and it sounds like he can hit. A switchhitting C, possible repeat allstar kind of talent, versus a frontoftherotation LHP. I’d actually consider organization need in that case, because to me both are legit 1/1 overall talents, and you’re not selling yourself short on talent. In the end I’d still take Price, but it’s pretty close on talent, for me. I don’t think there’s another true 1/1 talent in the draft; it’s down to those two. [John Manuel] Spoke with a couple of general managers recently and asked if they would trade their best young pitcher for Crawford — in both cases, these are excellent major league pitchers — and they immediately shot down the speculation. “No chance,” said one. “I love Crawford, and there are a lot of players I would trade for him. But not that guy [the pitcher], because how would I replace him?”…So if the Rays pass on Price, they would still be searching for someone like him. They need to take the pitcher.

that Milton Bradley got off a plane in Las Vegas at the Winter Meetings and went straight to lunch with Rays officials. that the Rays may be considering several of the top right field/DH free agents including Milton Bradley,Keith Law On Corey Hart Rays Index, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, and Raul Ibanez,superbowl 49ers jerseys. Ibanez is the only member of that group that would cost the Rays a first round draft pick as a Type A free agent. Heyman also mentions that Ken Griffey Jr would “love to play near his Orlando hometown.”,Cheap fitzgerald jersey 365djerseys.com G7; that with the Rays already , Griffey at $34 million might be more realistic than the other names, even if the market pushes their salaries down,Ravens Jerseys On Sale. Then again, if the Rays can move salary in other areas (Edwin Jackson), that might be enough to justify adding one of the players listed above at $810 million for one season,wholesale 2013 SuperBowl Jerseys. Rays Take Milton Bradley To Lunch [] Griffey could be good fit for Rays [] Griffey Could Be Good Fit For Rays []

Man, oh, Merlot Joe did the Rays need this one. After the Rays had their pitching staff,Colin Kaepernick Jersey,cheap nfl jerseys from china 365djerseys.com L8, specifically their bullpen, lit up for batting practice by the Chowds,griffin iii jersey 365djerseys.com P2, leave it to “Big Game” James Shields to shut out the BoSux, on Patriots Day no less. Just a tremendous day for Shields who allowed four hits while coming “this close” to a perfect game. KungFu Rodney came in and with his crooked cap, closed the door on the Sux, leaving Cody Ross to whine like a little girl at the plate umpire, throwing his helmet and bat in the dirt after looking at a Rodney pitch to end the game. The Derek Shelton Warriors were at it again today. The Rays scored the lone run of the game on a basesloaded walk. Thank goodness Shields was dominant. The way the Rays bullpen has performed, sans Rodney, and the virtual nonexistent offense from the lower part of the Rays batting order,Chris Wells Jersey, it will take pitching like the type Shields tossed today, three or four times a week from the Rays starters,suggs jersey, for the Rays to stay in the race.

Maybe the most important stat during Spring Training is playing time,cheap jaguars jerseys. The positions that a player plays, the amount of playing time the players receive and when that playing time is logged, gives us some insight into what Joe Maddon is thinking as we head towards the regular season,Carolina Panthers Jerseys 365djerseys.com U1. Below is a look at all the playing time that has been logged by the Rays during the first four games of Spring Training,cheap philadelphia 76ers jerseys. We will update this list every few days,cheap seahawks nike jerseys 365djerseys.com J9. Playing time is broken down to the early innings (15) and the later innings (6+). This is important because playing time early in the game means the player is more likely to face big league competition. And if JoeMa thinks a player is ready for the big league roster, or if Maddon wants to see if a player is ready,Cheap Green Bay Packers Jerseys, that player will see more playing time early (our notes on the table can be found below)… Notes on the table…

With the signing of James Loney and the trade for Yunel Escobar, the opening day roster is starting to come together, and the number of spots eligible for upgrade are starting to dwindle. Here’s a look at what the roster might look like if the season started today. Notes on the projection are below… LINEUP: With the addition of Yunel Escobar, it now looks like Ben Zobrist can back to playing second base versus righties and right field versus lefties with Ryan Roberts and Matt Joyce playing the other two spots in that menageaplatoon. If you are looking for spots where the Rays can still upgrade the offense, the most likely spots are left field, where Sam Fuld and Brandon Guyer are penciled in,whitney mercilus jersey 365djerseys.com L4, and DH, where everybody is penciled in,ryan jersey 365djerseys.com H1. A Luke ScottAlfonso Soriano mix at DH and in the OF would look nice. BENCH: Two of the spots are spoken for with onehalf of the catcher platoon and onethird of the RF2B mix,robert griffin iii jersey. The other two spots depend on what happens in the lineup, but Sam Fuld and Sean Rodriguez? are the most likely candidates. ROTATION: Obviously this depends on whether or not somebody is traded. If somebody goes, Alex Cobb is the most likely addition although you can make a strong case for Chris Archer,cheap titans jerseys. BULLPEN: With the trade of Burke Badenhop, it would appear that six of the seven spots are spoken for. There has been some talk of bringing back Kyle Farnsworth or JP Howell, but neither seems likely. More likely it will be some free agent that nobody else wants and comes in on a cheap contract,Tate Jersey.

. Erold Andrus was 24 and hit his 10th double and 1st home run since being promoted from Vero Beach,fitzgerald jersey. Reid Brignac was 04, and Fernando Perez was 24,wholesale larry fitzgerald jersey. ,patriots jerseys. Sergio Pedroza was 44 and hit his 18th home run. It was his third straight game with a home run and he is 810 over that span, with 3 doubles, 3 home runs and 10 RBI. He is 1736 (.472) with 5 home runs and 5 doubles and a triple in the last 10 games,cheap cutler jersey 365djerseys.com G0. . This year’s 2nd round pick, Will Kline, had his longest outing yet as a pro, striking out 3 in 4 innings. He gave up 1 run in 4 hits and a walk,2013 superbowl 49ers jerseys 365djerseys.com W0. Ryan Royster hit his 19th home run. . Alex Cobb, the Rays 4th round pick last year made his 10th start of the season, allowing 3 runs in 5 innings. He has a 3.18 ERA on the season. (10 innings). After scoring 3 in the top of the 10th to break the 33 tie, Danville came back with 4 in the bottom half of the frame for the victory. Two errors did in the PRays in the bottom of the 10th with the final run being scored on a 1out single. Another 2006 draftee, Jeremy Hall, struck out 8 in 6 scoreless innings. NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…

This is a few days old, but we have been busy. Sue us. We’ll give you $20. In , John Romano makes an effort to praise Delmon Young for his success this season and tout the 21year old for rookieoftheyear. Unfortunately, Mr. Romano can’t just praise Young and what he has accomplished on the baseball field. He is unable to just gives us the numbers and compare them to other rookies in the American League. No. Mr. Romano must make it clear to all of us, that he and Delmon Young have a tumultuous history,cheap colts nike jerseys 365djerseys.com L3. We were unaware of this until Mr. Romano felt the need to point it out to us. When Mr. Romano tried to approach Delmon about doing a story, he was turned away. Mr. Romano tries to imply that he is the bigger man by praising Young, and putting aside his dislike for the young slugger,cheap miami heat jerseys. Instead he comes off as a bitter, whiny 12year old that did not get ice cream after dinner. The plan was to talk to Young about his candidacy Sunday morning, but he is a man of few words. Or, in this case, one word. “No,”,Cheap J.J. Watt Jersey 365djerseys.com E1; he said, wagging a finger and walking away. In Delmon’s defense, he doesn’t like me. If I may speak for him, and I suppose I have to, I’,cheap golden state warriors jerseys;d say he hates me. Which doesn’t make him unique, or even misguided. The problem is his reputation as an individual is still catching up to his prowess as a player. In simpler terms, Young can be a petulant brat. Mr,Buffalo Bills Nike Jerseys. Romano claims that the “The real issue is Young’s talent. It is undeniable, and it is impressive.”; If that is the case, then why does Mr. Romano even need to bring up the battossing incident or the quotes in USA Today last year? If that is the case, then why must Mr. Romano resort to namecalling, by referring to Delmon as “a petulant brat”;? We understand the plight of the clubhouse reporter/columnist. They are just trying to do their job and sometimes they need to write things that may be taken as offensive by the players/teams they cover. But if a player chooses not to speak to a certain writer, that writer needs to remain professional and objective. Mr. Romano was unable to do this. Nobody needs to know that Delmon Young and Mr. Romano do not get along. Nobody needs to know that Delmon Young won’t answer Mr. Romano’s questions. And nobody needs Mr. Romano to tell us what he thinks of Delmon Young as a person. Rather than remain professional, Mr. Romano took his personal beef with Delmon Young to print. Mr. Romano tried to make sure all of his readers know that Delmon is brat. Instead Mr. Romano let all of his readers know that he is a ****. Grit your teeth and give Young his due []

Today is MLB’s AllStar game and we decided this would be a good time to take a look back at the “12 Days of Raysmas” series we ran this past offseason, in which we outlined 12 wishes for the 2008 season…Let’s see how the Rays are doing so far…,cheap ed reed jersey 365djerseys.com E8,cheap steelers nike jerseys; ONE Evan Longoria in the opening day lineup []: OK, we did not get Dirtbag in the opening day lineup, but he was in the lineup for game 11. Of course there was plenty of uproar at the time, but in hindsight, 10 games sure doesn’,Arizona Cardinals Jerseys;t seem like much. After all, that is less than a DL stint. TWO new pitchers in the rotation by the allstar break []: Well, the names are all the same, but can anybody argue that the Rays do have two new pitchers in the rotation,cheap 49ers jerseys 365djerseys.com C5? We say ‘Yes’. Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson have taken gigantic leaps forward in their careers and barely resemble their 2007 incarnations. Both pitchers have lowered their ERAs by more than a run. Sonny is 103 after going 610 last year and Jackson has already equaled his win total from a year ago. THREE AL AllStars []: This wish came true. Scott Kazmir and Dioner Navarro were named initially and Evan Longoria won the fan voting for the final spot on the AL roster. FOUR winning records against AL East foes []: The Rays are 83 versus Baltimore, 51 against the Jays, 66 against the Sox and 57 against the Yankees,bengals jerseys. Well, the Rays are beating up on the “other two”, something they have to do. And really, “in the neighborhood” of .500 against the Sox and Yankees is pretty darned good. FIVE players with at least 25 home runs []: The Rays will come nowhere near this mark. In fact, only Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena appear to be good bets to hit 25 and Eric Hinske will be close if he continues to receive regular playing time. BJ Upton has been a huge dissppointment in the power department and Cliff Floyd has spent too much time on the DL. SIX months with at least 14 wins []: The Rays have 14 wins in April, 19 in May and 16 in June. So far, so good. SEVEN relatively healthy months of Rocco Baldelli []: Oops. EIGHT ejections for Joe Maddon []: We knew this number was high when we wrote it. Our point was just to see a more fiery Joe Maddon in 2008. We think most would agree he has been. As for ejections, the only one we remember is the June 11th contest against the Angels, which was the 8th of Papa Joe’s career and 4th against his former team. NINE nohit innings from Scott Kazmir []: Both Matt Garza and James Shields have 1hitters to their credit this season. In fact, now that we have seen The Garza Complex on a regular basis we actually think he is the most likely of the trio to throw a nohitter. As for Kazmir, we would be excited if he ever completed a game. TEN meaningful games in September []: This looks like a lock at this point. ELEVEN walkoff wins []: The Rays are well on their way to making this wish come true with 7 of their 36 home wins so far in 2008 coming via walkoff. TWELVE major league pitchers []: Injuries have kept this from happening yet, but as soon as Troy Percival and Al Reyes come back from the DL, a decent major league pitcher is going to have to be Designated For Assignment or traded (Jason Hammel or Gary Glover appear most likely). That is an indication that the Rays finally have 12 major league pitchers on the staff.

THE GOOD: Willy Aybar collected 3 of the Rays 8 hits while Jason Bartlett was 22…With 1 run in already in the 6th, the O’s had 1st and 3rd with no outs. Andy Sonnanstine got out of the jam with a pop up to Aki Iwamura and then an inningending double play started by Willy Aybar who had a great night with the glove,detroit pistons jerseys. The double play showed how quickly Aki has adapted to his new position as he was taking a throw from third rather short, so there was a different angle to the bag, he had to wait longer on the bag and made the necessary strong relay throw…The O’s were rained out last night and will play a doubleheader today. While the Rays should be done with their day by 4:00, the O’s won’t even arrive in Tampa for another 12 hours. THE BAD: The Rays 15 hitters were a combined 118. This just in. That’s not good…Which led to the Rays 4th straight loss after starting the year 13…Justin Ruggiano in his first game since being recalled from Durham, misplayed a ball to right field that got over his head and instead of sprinting after the ball that should have already been in his glove, he decided to turn and look back and make sure everybody in the stadium new he lost the ball in the lights. If it wasn’t so painful, it might have actually been funny. Like when somebody trips over a crack in the sidewalk and they immediately turn back to look at what could have possibly reached up and grabbed the foot…With the game still in reach in the 7th, the Rays got a leadoff double from Willy Aybar and he failed to score…The 3run homer in the 8th was the ladykiller…0 stolen base attempts,Ben Tate Jersey 365djerseys.com E1. Like a wise man once said, You can’t steal first base, and the Rays could not get any of their speedsters on first. THE TELLING: Yesterday there was some speculation that JP Howell could still get the open starters slot on Sunday with Matt Garza on the DL. Howell faced 9 batters last night indicating that he is not a candidate afterall…With Cliff Floyd now on the DL,Cleveland Browns Jerseys, Eric Hinske and Nathan Haynes will share the RF/DH duties against righties, while Jonny Gomes and Justin Ruggiano will get the starts against lefties. DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA… “Going through a full season you’re going to have a lot of injuries, especially in your starting rotation, you just deal with it,”,cushing jersey 365djerseys.com B4; Percival said.”;Usually it doesn’t happen this early in the season,cheap atlanta hawks jerseys, but these guys have been around a long time [in the bullpen],”; he said. “We just have got to suck it up until we get everybody healthy and they go out there and start going seven, eight innings at a time.”;

John Jaso is from northern California, so you can imagine he is pretty excited about being traded to the Seattle Mariners, that he is “very excited about that.” He also explained why he struggled so much in 2011… “I think it was a little bit of second year stuff…,ed reed jersey 365djerseys.com L2;Defensively, I had a little bit of a groin issue and then my oblique injury. I definitely played through my oblique for a while and it kind of hurt my play…I ran into some pretty bad streaks there for a while. I was connecting with some balls and they weren’,cushing jersey;t falling.” We don’;t think the Rays were ever concerned that Jaso couldn’;t hit,cheap san antonio spurs jerseys. He is obviously a better hitter than he showed in 2011,Wholesale Chris Wells Jersey. But the difficulty with Jaso is that his defense is not good enough to justify his spot in the lineup when he is struggling or is not 100 percent healthy,Playoff matchup Falcons run defense vs. Seahawks run offense Atlanta Falcons.